


All that Is or Ever Was or Ever Will Be

by MI5WWII



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cloud Atlas Fusion, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, BAMF Victor, BAMF Yuuri, Bottom Katsuki Yuuri, Bottom Victor Nikiforov, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Existentialism, Explicit Sexual Content, First Time, Freedom Fighters, M/M, Minor Character Death, PROTECT THEM, Science Fiction, Violence, because that's what the wiki says and I'm too tired to change it, cloned yuuri, the sort of cloud atlas au no one asked for, too many references to camus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:01:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MI5WWII/pseuds/MI5WWII
Summary: Yuuri-451 is one of many clones bred and intended as a mass work force by the larger fabricant companies in Japan in the year 2144. He is subjugated at the mega mall ice rink before escaping with the help of Viktor Nikiforov, freedom fighter and leader of the largest Resistance to the Ministry and New Order. Yuuri is but one of the millions of clones bred for consumerism in a corrupt state; but with Viktor, and with the resistance he believes they can change the world, and he can finally have true freedom.----------------------Yuuri chewed his bottom lip for a moment and thought of blades on ice, thought of bubblegum and possibilities, and the longing for an ikigai. “I want my name to mean me,” he answered.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The Title is taken from the song "All that Is or Ever Was or Ever Will Be" by Alan Silvestri.  
> I made a playlist on Spotify for this entire story if anyone is interested, its title is the same as the title of the fic.  
> https://open.spotify.com/user/tolkienerd/playlist/37WvXoYqdl8GAzRt69zf0M  
> I don't own Yuri!!! on Ice or Cloud Atlas obviously.  
> This au won't be based off the entire Cloud Atlas work, only the narrative of Somni-451 and Chang and really only the framework, as this will be nowhere near canon compliant with the book or the movie.  
> Japanese phrases/words used in this chapter  
> Atarashii Shō-New Order  
> Atarashii Hasetsu-New Hasetsu  
> Yugen-A profound awareness of the universe that triggers a deep emotional response  
> Suimin-sleep  
> Ikigai-A reason for being;the thing that gets you up in the morning  
> Teikō-resistance  
> I am sadly incredibly monolingual and am using the internet for translation and we all know how reliable that is. If anyone sees any mistakes feel free to let me know.

**Atarash** **ii Hasetsu: 2144 AD**

**Archivist Annals of the Japanese Atarash** **ii Shō**

**Subject: Yuuri®-451[FabriCorp©] Registered under Hasetsu Ice-Castle**

                Yuuri sat stiff and straight, wrists cuffed to the magnetized holding chair as he held the gaze of the archivist sitting across from him. His throat bobbed against the silver circlet collared around his neck, the crown bestowed upon the enemies of the Atarashii  Shō.

                “On behalf of the ministry, thank you for agreeing to this final interview Yuuri-451®.”

                “I chose the name Katsuki for my surname, rather than answering to my designation number.”

                The archivist dipped his head in acquiesce. “Please remember, this isn’t an interrogation, or a trial. Your version of the truth is the only one that matters.”

                “Truth is singular,” said Yuri. “It’s ‘versions’ are mistruths.”

                “Very well, then let us start with your earliest memory,” stated the archivist.

                “I do not recall having a childhood, nor my beginning days at the ice rink; though the ice castle subjugated my current model into employment over seven years ago.”

                “Subjugated?” The archivist queried.

                Yuuri’s jaw clenched as he glanced to the camera hovering over the table between the two. “To have complete control, conquer, or master. I can easily use the term enslave if you prefer.”

                Laugh lines appeared at the corners of the archivist’s eyes. He spoke genially with hands spread in an open gesture. “To enslave an individual they must have free will, existential awareness and Yugen; a soul if one believes in such things. You were born in a lab and sold as a commercial product. Do you believe you have a soul, Yuuri Katsuiki, even though you are but a mere fabricant, one of a million copies of a complete and actual person?”

                Yuuri gripped at his restraints, white fingered and nail beds tinged blue. He leaned forward to choke out, “I rebel; therefore I exist.”

                The archivist paused, surprise written plainly across his even features. “Albert Camus? You cemented your death sentence when you read such forbidden content.”

                Yuuri laughed plainly. “Archivist, I scripted my own death sentence years ago when I snuck from my suimin tube, laced on pureblood skates, and fell in love.”

                “…Fell in love? With whom?”

                “I fell in love the moment I stepped onto the ice and for the first time in my life felt the weight of enslavement ease off my chest. I fell in love with myself. I fell in love with the idea of watching a sunrise in a world beyond the walls of Atarashii Hasetsu.”

                “Can you clarify on that statement?”

                Yuuri stared at the archivist for a moment and then smiled a wide, brilliant, smile. “I fell in love with freedom.”

2 Years Previous

                Yuuri stood behind the counter and held the chip reader out for the customer to pass her wrist over and pay for an hour of beginner’s skating lessons. He held his picture perfect smile, though customers never glanced at his face long enough to notice whether he smiled or not. He was engineered to look as mundane and attention diverting as possible. His features were symmetrical, though not perfect like fabricants used at high end restaurants, meant to please and catch the eye. Eyes slid over Yuuri like oil on water, he repelled notice. Yuuko-939 placed a size 24 pair of skates on the counter and the customer took them without comment.

                A teenage boy walked to the counter next and asked for a ticket and skate rental with a bored tone. A moment later his eyes caught on Yuuko and his mouth pulled into a thin smile. Yuuri saw Yuuko frown out of the corner of his eye and felt dread wriggle in his stomach. The boy scanned his wrist, still staring after Yuuko, even as she disappeared behind skate racks to retrieve his size. They clunked onto the counter as Yuuko flipped her ponytail. The boy’s eyebrows narrowed for a moment, but he snatched the skates up and walked away without a word.

                Yuuri glanced to Yuuko, who still had a disgruntled expression painted obviously across her face. Yuuri flicked his eyes towards the security camera and then down to his shoes. He shook his head silently. Yuuko heaved a sigh. He swallowed thickly as he heard the camera pan to follow Yuuko’s movement as she walked away.

                That night Yuuri sat on the edge of his suimin tube after dropping his uniform down the incineration chute. He wore his paper sleep shirt and drank his daily ration of squash from its cardboard box. He squeezed the box for a moment as the sticky, pink liquid coagulated in the straw. Yuuri had always thought squash tasted like fresh ice-skate blades smelt. The pureblood food that customers sometimes brought in never smelt as sharp. Everyday Yuuri wondered if there was anything else in the world but the taste of bitter squash.

                Yuuko threw Yuuri a curious smile as all the Ice Castle fabricants climbed into their suimin tubes. He did not sleep for a long while and stared into the blackness of the tube, thinking of a picture of the new off Earth colony he glimpsed on a pureblood’s tablet screen earlier that day. Yuuri dreamt of skies too blue to be real and imagined the flavor of bubblegum.

                In the morning Yuuri exited his suimin tube, unpackaged his uniform and drank the morning half ration of squash. He stood between Yuuri -450 and Yuuri-452, resisted the urge to scratch under his metal collar, and the fabricants filed into the Ice Castle. Yuuri scanned wrists, offered coupons to dissatisfied customers and keyed in skate sizes for Yuuko to retrieve. Like every day, just before pureblood lunch time at noon, the ice rink slowed to a crawl and Yuuko scrubbed skates while Yuuri typed inventory into the system and the other designated Yuuris and Yuukos performed their daily lunchtime tasks.

                Yuuri noted that ice-skate pair number 341 needed sharpened just as Yuuko glanced up through her lashes as she scrubbed pair 98. “Did you sleep well?” She asked.

                It was Yuuko that encouraged Yuuri, all those years ago, to borrow a pair of skates and step out onto the ice, where no fabricant was allowed. Yuuko often asked after his sleeping habits, though Yuuri could never skate as often as he wanted. The managers nightly examined the fabricants and if Yuuri exhibited a more muscular frame than the other models from regular skating he would be under interrogation. Besides the overseers, the rations of squash were specifically quantified to cover the basic calorie limit of a day’s work at the Ice Castle. The rare nights that Yuuri skated left him exhausted and hollowed out, hunger eating away at his insides.

                Yuuri nodded and Yuuko’s shoulders seemed to sag for a moment. Yuuri expected the rest of the day to pass in silence, like every other, but Yuuko glanced up again.

                “If you could wish for anything, what would you beg the universe?”Asked Yuuko.

                Yuuri chewed his bottom lip for a moment and thought of blades on ice, thought of bubblegum and possibilities, and the longing for an ikigai. “I want my name to mean me,” he answered.

                Yuuko nodded and whispered. “I just want out of here Yuuri. Doesn’t matter how, I need out.”

                Yuuri started and looked at Yuuko with worry. The dread he felt when she couldn’t hide her indifference or despair threatened to squeeze at his lungs. Yuuko returned to her cleaning as if nothing was said and Yuuri remained on edge for the next several hours. He returned to one of the front registers and scanned customer’s wrists while wearing his smile. An hour before closing, a group of teenagers piled in, talking loudly and waving their hands around in dramatic gestures. Yuuri silently scanned them and keyed in their skate sizes. The tallest one who wore a fashionable green coat leered after Yuuko as she retrieved their skates. She plunked them onto the counter with a quick movement but the tall one stretched over the counter and grabbed at Yuuko’s breasts while the other boys whistles and laughed.

                Yuuri paled as Yuuko threw her arm back and slapped the boy with an echoing crack. He reeled back and for one blessed moment, everything hung silent and still. Yuuko darted around the counter and dashed for the exit doors that looked out into the megamall beyond. Yuuri swallowed down bile as he heard the video camera’s movements and its lens extending. He heard a dull ca-chink and Yuuko dropped a meter before the doors, blood pouring from the puncture wounds below her metal collar. She held out her right hand and gurgled before slumping face first to the ground.

**Atarash** **ii Hasetsu: 2144 AD**

**Archivist Annals of the Japanese Atarash** **ii Shō**

**Subject: Yuuri®-451[FabriCorp©] Registered under Hasetsu Ice-Castle**

            “Did you know that she would run, Yuuko-939?”

            Yuuri swallowed and glanced away from the archivist. “No, I never would have imagined then ─I never imagined anyone could rebel like that.”

            “That clearly changed. What instigated your escape and involvement with anti Atarashī Shō terrorist groups?”

            “The Teikō is not a terrorist group, archivist,” stated Yuuri. “We are freedom fighters.”

            The archivist waved his hand. “What led you to join forces with The Teikō then?”

            Yuuri grinned, sharp and gleeful, his teeth caught the light from the glow of the archivist’s tablet screen. “What else? Viktor Nikiforov.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Quite a bit of the beginning is direct quotation from the Cloud Atlas book. All credit for David Mitchell's words of course goes to him.  
> The quote “I want my name to mean me" is by Mark Haddon.  
> If anyone hates philosophy...I'm sorry.I love existentialism and I love Cloud Atlas and I love Yuri!!! on Ice so I mashed them all together.  
> I'm on tumblr at http://dawigginator.tumblr.com/ come scream into the void with me.


End file.
